Tonight the Caps travel to Atlanta to take on a division rival for the first time this season – and believe it or not, the Thrashers are hot on the Caps’ heels, trailing by just one point for the division lead.

While the Caps have found a bit of offense (yeah, just a tad) from some guy wearing #8, Atlanta’s Kovalchuk has provided the same spark for his team and has 7 goals to Ovechkin’s 9. And that’s through just 6 games. It’s an offensive showdown that promises to be a fun one to watch – not just tonight but all season long, as another long-overlooked Russian throws his hat into the scoring ring.

Ovechkin vs. Kovalchuk has been and will be covered ad nauseum around this game – and the 5 that will follow – but there’s another storyline of sorts floating around this one. Our first meeting of the season with a division rival is a reminder that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Southeast Division as it stands today.

Celebrate good times. Come on. Let’s celebrate…with random SE factoids:

- The Caps face the Thrashers in their 9th game of the season. That ties the longest start to a season without meeting a division rival since back in ‘01-’02, when the Caps didn’t see one until playing Tampa on October 23. Incidentally, that game ended in a 1-1 tie (remember those?).

- Every other season in the last ten years has seen the Caps go no more than 3 games into a campaign before facing a division rival. They’ve opened a season versus the Southeast three times, including a couple of home openers.

- Atlanta has been the first Southeast Division rival faced by the Caps 5 of the last 6 seasons including this one.

- The Caps have also played the Thrashers more times in October than any other division foe, with 8 October games under their belts. That’s not necessarily a good thing – they’re 2-3-3 in those 8 games, with one tie, one shootout loss and one overtime loss.

- Atlanta has outscored the Caps in the opening month 40-25. Of course a large part of that is thanks to back-to-back, er, thrashings, 7-3 and 8-1 to kickstart the 05-06 season.

- The Caps haven’t fared much better against the rest of the division in October; their only winning record is against the Hurricanes, with a slim margin at 3-2-1. They’re 2-2-1 against the Panthers and 2-3-1 (one tie) against the Lightning.

- Since the ‘99-’00 season, the Caps are 56-48-16 against the Southeast – but have been outscored by a sizable margin, putting up 369 goals compared to 394 allowed. Ouch.

- Last win against the Hurricanes: 3/14/09 in DC, 5-4 (SO)
- Last loss to the Hurricanes: 3/21/09 in Raleigh, 4-1

- Last win against the Lightning: 4/9/09 in Tampa, 4-2
- Last loss to the Lightning: 11/16/07 in Tampa, 5-2

- Last win against the Panthers: 3/17/09 in Florida, 3-0
- Last loss to the Panthers: 4/11/09 in Florida, 7-4

- Last win against the Thrashers: 4/7/09 in Atlanta, 4-2
- Last loss to the Thrashers: 3/16/09 in Atlanta, 5-1

- Technically this whole post is a lie because of the lockout – it’s only the 9th season these 5 teams have been together. But it certainly feels longer…

And as we head into tonight’s game against the Thrashers we take a look at four Russian headliners who enjoy nothing more than scoring on each others’ teams. Here’s how the head-to-head numbers shake out in the last two seasons:

Ovechkin – 14 games, 9-12-21, +3
Kovalchuk – 12 games, 5-9-14, -4
Semin – 11 games, 4-6-10, -4
Kozlov – 14 games, 5-7-12, +1

Of course, with Semin unable to go tonight there’s a 5th Russian to keep an eye on – Semyon Varlamov, who has appeared in 2 games against the Thrashers and given up just 3 goals for a 2.07 GAA.